According to the report from consumer credit service Digido, over 58 million active users in the Philippines spent a total of 4.4 million hours using e-wallet applications.

Digido’s report revealed that from December 2018 to December 2022, the total number of unique downloads among the e-wallets included in the study increased by 632% (or an additional 99 million), growing by 30.5% (+26.7 million) in 2022 alone.

The Digido study involved 14 companies in the Philippines that have applications within the iOS App Store and/or Google Play. These companies have a combined total of 114.4 million unique downloads as of December 2022, representing 20% of the total downloads from the business and finance categories across all devices and all platforms.

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Digido attributed the growth to the Philippines’ young population (aged above 15). This segment of the population is expected to be at some 85.4 million people by the end of 2025, based on the United Nations estimates.

Electronic money

The company also pointed out the projected growth of the Philippine economy and the global demand for electronic money.

According to Statista, from 2023 to 2025, the global volume of digital payments will grow by 42.6%, and the number of users by 18.6%.

E-wallets analyzed in the study are those owned or operated by companies that have EMI (Electronic Money Issuer) and OPS (Operator of Payment System) licenses or those operated in partnership with a company that has said EMI licenses. 

Mobile apps

The 58 million active user base is 8% (-5 million) less compared to December 2021, but up 466% compared to December 2018. This figure is comparable to 72% of the population aged 15+, according to United Nations estimates.

On average, e-wallet users in 2022 visited at least one of the mobile apps in this study about 16 times per month, similar to 2021 (16) and slightly lower compared to 2020 (17) and 2019 (19).

Digido also estimates that the total number of accounts of the 14 examined apps could reach 81 million people by 2025. The unique number of users could also reach 67.3 million people by 2025.